Coronavirus: Which workers get hurt most, least due to state-ordered business shutdowns?

Collin's Barber and Beauty Shop

Charleston Collins, right, and his son Tyson get a few more customers in at Collins Barber & Beauty Shop in Syracuse on Friday, March 20, 2020 before a mandated shutdown due to the coronavirus .Scott Schild | sschild@syracuse.com

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s latest order to combat the coronavirus is going to inflict economic pain on hundreds of thousands more New Yorkers, but some will feel it more than others.

On Friday, Cuomo issued an order barring all businesses except those in “essential” industries from having any of their employees work from the company’s facilities. They must work remotely — or not at all.

His latest order will greatly increase the number of businesses that cannot easily have their staffs work from home to simply shut down.

“These actions will cause disruption,” Cuomo said. “They will cause businesses to close. They’ll cause employees to stay at home. I understand that. They will cause much unhappiness.”

Who’s going to get hit the hardest? Hourly workers mostly.

People who have the kind of jobs that allow them to work from home should get by. That includes many professionals, salaried workers and office personnel.

But employees of bars, restaurants, gyms, retail stores, casinos, salons and movie theaters, among others, are mostly idled as a result of the orders, and the majority of them are hourly workers who cannot do their jobs from home.

“Anybody that’s in a world where they work in a non-salary capacity is certainly going to have concerns,” said Ken Walsleben, professor of entrepreneurial practice at Syracuse University’s Martin J. Whitman School of Management.

Many are employed by small businesses, which have been the driving force behind employment and wage growth in recent years, Walsleben said. But unlike large corporations, small businesses generally are not able to continue paying employees who are idled, he said.

And things will be even worse for the many low-wage hourly workers who are classified as independent contractors rather than employees, according to Maria Figueroa, director of labor and policy research at the Worker Institute at Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations.

Independent contractors are not eligible for unemployment benefits, so they won’t even receive an unemployment check to cushion the blow, she said.

She said there are more than a million such workers in New York. They include drivers for ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft, food delivery workers; hotel housekeepers; construction workers; merchandise delivery drivers for online retailers and others; freelancers of any sort; employees of many arts, sports and entertainment centers; and even nail and beauty salon workers (who often rent their booths).

“They’re just not entitled to anything,” Figueroa said. “This is a real crisis. The only thing that comes near it was the Great Depression in the 1930s.”

The U.S. Labor Department Thursday reported a 30 percent increase in unemployment claims last week, one of the largest spikes on record. There were more than 280,000 new claims filed, according to the labor department.

On Friday, more than 500,000 online applicants and nearly an equal number of callers a day are crushing New York’s system for filing unemployment claims as the coronavirus outbreak puts people out of work.

People trying to file for unemployment benefits with the state Department of Labor are being greeted by constant crashes of the department’s website. Those who try filing over the phone are running into jammed lines.

There are some companies that are hiring such as Amazon and Walmart. Locally, Price Chopper and Byrne Dairy announced they need workers.

And when the pandemic is over — which could be weeks or months, no one knows — it’s possible that many small businesses will not be around to hire their workers back, Walsleben said.

“By definition, small businesses are not sitting on a lot of cash," he said. “Just as employees live paycheck to paycheck, small businesses live week to week. I’m really worried for them.”

Brick-and-mortar retail stores are especially at risk, as they were already under assault by online retailers, he said.

“This might be that black swan event that kills off a few more,” he said.

MORE ON CORONAVIRUS

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Unemployed in NY? A survival kit for benefits, bills, evictions, mortgages, utilities, debts, help

Thousands of coronavirus patients threaten to overwhelm CNY hospitals; what needs to be done now

Rick Moriarty covers business news and consumer issues. Got a tip, comment or story idea? Contact him anytime: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 315-470-3148

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